How safe is the kind of software talked about on this forum?

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Posted by JasonE
Feb 5, 2010 at 06:38 PM

I have recently started using much more of the kind of software that is talked about on this forum.

Generally speaking, how safe is this kind of software from spyware and viruses and what not?

I had assumed that it was pretty safe, but I am wondering if that is a wise assumption.

JasonE

Posted by Cassius
Feb 6, 2010 at 06:46 AM

There are three kinds of safety to consider:

1.
The viruses, malware, etc. you mentioned. I have never encountered such in these types of programs that I USE. However, there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of such programs, so some may be infected.

2.
Some of these programs have dangerous bugs. For example, NoteMap (which I once recommended) has a bug that caused an entire page of text that I wrote to disappear permanently. The “undo” command did not bring it back.

3.
Also many of these programs have not been updated for years. So you always have the possibility that when you switch to a newer version of your operating system, a program may no longer work. Thus it is wise to select a program that can export to a standard file format, such as rtf, so you don’t lose important files.

-c

Posted by Thomas
Feb 7, 2010 at 12:08 AM

Antivirus programs are safer than assumptions.

> Generally speaking, how safe is this kind of software from spyware and viruses and what not?

In the security world there is no “generally speaking”. If you download 50 programs and only one came with backdoor trojan, generally speaking the software was mostly safe though your computer is in havoc.

Alright, still, generally speaking, there was never any security problem with any software recommended here that I got, I’m always downloading from the original location (developer’s website).
That’s another factor - where you get the file from might matter.

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